The Elder's gaze swept across the remaining youths, his eyes as cold and hard as river stones. "Will is the foundation, but aptitude is the gate. Without the gate, you can never step onto the path. Now, we will see who among you has the fortune to be born with this gate."
He pointed a bony finger at the black stone pillar. "This is the Primeval Stone. It houses a Rank Three Awakening Gu. You will come forward, one by one, and place your hand upon it. If you have the potential, the Gu will sense it and help you awaken your aperture. If you do not… your path ends here."
The air grew thick with a desperate tension. This was the final judgment.
The first youth to be called was a lanky boy who had barely passed the pressure test. He walked forward on trembling legs, his face ashen. He placed his hand on the stone. For a long, agonizing moment, nothing happened. The stone remained dark, inert.
The boy's face crumpled. A low sob escaped his lips. He had failed. His ledger was closed. He was led away, his future now a flat, gray line of menial labor until death.
Another youth went. And another. Both failed. The crowd grew restless, their hopes dwindling.
Then, the Elder called, "Gu Moon Bo."
The Elder's grandson strode forward, his earlier strain replaced by a confident smirk. He slammed his palm onto the stone.
For a breath, there was nothing. Then, a faint red light began to glow from the pillar, weak at first, then growing in intensity until it bathed Gu Moon Bo in a crimson hue. The light was not dazzling, but it was solid, undeniable.
"C-grade aptitude!" the Gu Master beside the pillar announced, his voice ringing with forced enthusiasm. "Primeval sea of red steel! Forty-four chance in a hundred!"
A murmur of approval went through the crowd. C-grade was not exceptional, but it was solid. It was the mark of a true Gu Master. Gu Moon Bo drank in the attention, his chest swelling with pride. He shot a triumphant, mocking look directly at Meng Ru. See, river rat? This is true power. This is my birthright.
Next came Feng Yin. She walked with a stiff, controlled gait, her face a pale face of determination. She placed her hand on the stone, her eyes squeezed shut.
The pillar lit up again, this time with a soft orange glow, slightly brighter and clearer than Gu Moon Bo's red.
"C-grade aptitude!" the announcer called out, a hint of genuine surprise in his voice. "Primeval sea of orange copper! Fifty-seven chances in a hundred! An upper-tier C-grade!"
Feng Yin let out a shuddering breath, her shoulders slumping in overwhelming relief. She had done it. She had escaped. Her gaze flickered toward Meng Ru, a complex mixture of relief and a new, subtle calculation.
More youths were tested. A few more C-grades appeared, but none surpassed Feng Yin. The majority failed, their hopes turning to ash.
Finally, only one remained.
"Meng Ru."
A wave of whispers rippled through the crowd. The river rat. The outsider. Most expected nothing. A few, remembering his effortless performance in the first trial, watched with a flicker of curiosity.
Meng Ru walked forward, his steps measured and calm. The world seemed to fade away until only he and the black pillar remained. He placed his hand on its smooth, cool surface.
He felt a gentle probe, a wisp of energy that entered his body and spiraled down to his dantian. It was a key searching for a lock. For a moment, it found nothing.
Then, it touched something. A spark. A latent potential deep within him.
The key turned.
BOOM!
It was not a sound but a sensation that erupted within him. An empty void in his core suddenly expanded, a swirling vortex of nothingness that was hungry for the world's energy. His aperture was born.
At the same instant, the Primeval Stone exploded with light.
It was not red, not orange. It was a brilliant, blinding white light, pure and dazzling as the midday sun. It shot up from the pillar in a powerful beam, dispelling the morning gloom and forcing the entire village to shield their eyes. It was a sea of light, vast and immeasurable.
The announcer stood frozen, his mouth agape, the words caught in his throat. The Elder shot to his feet, his composure shattered for the first time. His eyes, wide with disbelief, stared at the pillar of white light as if seeing a ghost.
"A-grade aptitude…" he breathed, his voice a hoarse whisper filled with utter shock and something else—a dawning, rapacious hunger. "Primeval sea of silver light… Ninety… ninety-two chance in a hundred!"
The plaza was utterly silent. The villagers stared, dumbfounded. Gu Moon Bo's face was a face of disbelief and venomous jealousy. Feng Yin's eyes were wide, her mind reeling as she re-evaluated everything she had ever made about the boy she'd found by the river.
Meng Ru removed his hand from the stone. The light vanished, plunging the plaza back into its normal, drab reality. But nothing was the same.
He was no longer Meng Ru, the burden. He was no longer Meng Ru, the river rat.
He was Meng Ru, the A-grade genius. The clan's most valuable asset.
His ledger had not just been rewritten. It had been burned, and a new one, bound in gold, had just been opened.